<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>./README_ibm6000</TITLE>

<META HTTP-EQUIV="contact" CONTENT="IBM Visualization Data Explorer 
(ibmdx@watson.ibm.com)">                                                        
<META HTTP-EQUIV="owner" CONTENT="IBM Visualization Data Explorer 
(ibmdx@watson.ibm.com)">                                                        
<META HTTP-EQUIV="updated" CONTENT="Thu, 12 Feb 1998 23:15:12">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="review" CONTENT="Fri, 14 Aug 1998 23:15:12">

<META HTTP-EQUIV="keywords" CONTENT="GRAPHICS VISUALIZATION VISUAL PROGRAM DATA 
MINING">                                                                        
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1">
</HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<IMG SRC="images/dxicon8.gif" ALT=""><BR>

<A NAME="Top_Of_Page"></A>
<H1>./README_ibm6000</H1>
<PRE>
* 
* RISC System/6000 specific README for IBM Visualization Data Explorer 
* 
* 
* 
  
  
The information contained in this file consists of architecture specific 
hints for using the system, help with functions that may not be apparent, 
and last minute updates to the existing documentation.  It is advisable to 
review this file any time Data Explorer updates are applied. 
  
======================================================================== 
  
CONTENTS 
  
    To go directly to an item, search for the item number beginning 
    at the left margin. 
  
     1. System configuration 
        A. User Limits 
        B. Prerequisite Software 
        C. "OS page space is low, terminating execution" 
     2. Hardware Rendering Considerations 
        A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering 
        B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message 
        C. The Gto 
        D. Gt4x under Sequencer control 
        E. 2D Graphics Cards with AIX Option X11_3d.gl.rte 
        F. The Gto does not support transparency 
        G. OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer 
        H. Backing store performance using the OpenGL renderer 
        I. The GXT1000 
     3. User Interface Notes  
        A. Visual Program line connections 
        B. Differences for AIX 4.1 desktop 
  
======================================================================== 
  
1. System configuration 
  
A. User Limits 
AIX enforces per process limits on the amount of physical memory used by a 
process.  When you want Data Explorer to use large amounts of physical memory, 
it is advised that you change these per process limits using 'smit' by 
traversing the following menu selections: 
  
        Security & Users 
        Users 
        Change / Show Characteristics of a User 
  
You may want to change "Max physical MEMORY" to be some number a few megabytes 
less than the machine size.  This number is specified in 512 byte blocks. 
For example, a machine with 64MB may have this limit set to 114688, 56MB. 
  
B. Prerequisite Software 
The following are required and must be at or greater than the given release 
level... 
                  bos.obj             03.02.0000 
                  bosext1.csh.obj     03.02.0000 
                  X11rte.obj          01.02.0000 
                  X11rte.ext.obj      01.02.0000 
  
If present, the following are required to be at or greater than the given 
release level... 
                  X11_3d.gl.rte.obj   01.02.0000 
                  X11_3d.obj          01.02.0000 
                  X11dev.obj          01.02.0000 
   
C. "OS page space is low, terminating execution" 
This message occurs when there is not enough page space allocated. 
See "Paging Space" in the general README file. 
  
2. Hardware Rendering Considerations 
The behavior of Data Explorer on the RISC System/6000 differs in a few 
ways when using the hardware rendering option. 
  
A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering 
When hardware rendering is requested for the first time, the executive 
dynamically loads /usr/local/dx/bin_ibm6000/DXhwddOGL.o and the OpenGL shared 
libraries.  If one of these is not present then hardware rendering will 
be disabled. See G "OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer". 
  
B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message 
When the message 'Hardware rendering not available: /usr/lib/libgl.a not 
found' appears, then GL shared library or run-time support has 
not been installed. 
  
C. The Gto 
The Gto drawing processor card should have a Date Code greater than 9052, 
and any EC Level except S24699. To determine the Date Code and EC Level, 
type "lscfg -v -l hispddrp*". If either requirement is not met, contact  
IBM Service to request an upgrade to the Drawing Processor Card (hispddrp*). 
  
D. Gt4x under Sequencer control 
When users of the Gt4x hardware accelerator cards run visual programs 
which generate simple images, either small or with few objects, 
quickly under Sequencer control, their system may be bogged down with  
graphics work.  To avoid this situation, set the throttle parameter either 
to the Display module or with the Throttle dialog for an Image module 
to some small number (e.g. 0.25 seconds). 
  
E. 2D Graphics Cards with AIX Option X11_3d.gl.rte 
When users try to use hardware rendering on machines which don't support 
3D rendering but on which the X11_3d.gl.rte option is installed, Data 
Explorer may abnormally exit. 
  
F. The Gto does not support transparency 
The High Speed 3D Graphics Accelerator (Gto) does not support transparency 
when Hardware Rendering is selected. 
  
G. OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer 
The default hardware renderer on AIX platforms is OpenGL.  To use 
OpenGL, you must start the X server as follows: 
   xinit -- -x mbx -x abx -x GLX 
To use the GL hardware renderer export the environment variable DXHWMOD: 
  Korn shell (ksh):  export DXHWMOD=DXhwdd.o 
  C shell    (csh):  setenv DXHWMOD DXhwdd.o 
(The alternative is DXHWMOD=DXhwddOGL.o) 
You can also choose between OpenGL and GL on the command line to dx 
by specifying -hwrender [gl|opengl] 
  
H. Backing store performance using the OpenGL renderer 
When DX is in hardware rendering mode it uses a pixel read function 
to read back the image after each complete display.  The saved image is 
used to refresh the window when an area is later obscured and exposed 
(e.g. pop-up menus) and also for erasing lines drawn during use of the 
direct interactors (e.g. zoom box).  When using the OpenGL renderer on 
adapters where the time to read and write pixels is slow relative to  
drawing geometry, it may be preferable to disable this mechanism by  
exporting the environment variable DXNO_BACKING_STORE: 
  
  Korn shell (ksh):  export DXNO_BACKING_STORE=1 
  C shell    (csh):  setenv DXNO_BACKING_STORE 1 
  
This will cause the image to be redrawn when image areas are exposed 
and will cause the direct interactors to erase lines by using black. 
The black lines will persist until the image is redrawn. 
  
I. The GXT1000 
In order to use hardware rendering of any type (GL 3.2 or OpenGL) on 
the GXT1000, users must start the X server with the GLX, abx and mbx 
server extensions as described in 2G. 
  
The GXT1000's X server may sometimes leave black rubberbanding 
lines in place when using the Colormap editor or when 
moving icons around on the canvas. These lines will disappear if the 
window is obscured and then exposed. 
  
If you resize a window which is using hardware rendering on an 
object with non-opaque objects, it is possible that you will see only 
the opaque object in the original location of the window. This is true 
only for GL 3.2 (not OpenGL). 
  
You should apply the following ptf's. They will fix many of the above 
problems. 
U433080 GXT1000 Maint Package 1 -- superceded by U437136 
U433283 GXT1000 Maint Package 2 
U434859 GXT1000 Maint Package 3 -- superceded by U437136 
U437136 GXT1000 Enhancement Package 4 
  
3. User Interface Notes  
  
A. Visual Program line connections 
Graphical objects in the Visual Program Editor (VPE) may not be shown if the 
workspace is larger than 1280x1024 pixels. 
  
B. Differences for AIX 4.1 desktop 
Some user interface features may look different than they appear 
on other architectures and in the documentation. You can change 
this behavior by setting the following X resources: 
*enableEtchedInMenu: False  
*enableToggleVisual: False  
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
  
The following trademarks apply to this information: 
  
IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. 
IBM Visualization Data Explorer AIX, AIXwindows, and RISC System/6000 
    are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. 
OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. 
</PRE>
<A NAME="Bot_Of_Page"></A>
</BODY></HTML>
